6 Palestinians arrested at al-Asri mosque

Israeli police arrested six Palestinians after stones were thrown at Israelis visiting Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Sunday during the Jewish Passover holiday, a spokesman said. “There was a regular scheduled visit on Temple Mount,” spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP, using the Jewish name for the compound which is the third-holiest site in Islam but also Judaism’s most sacred place. “Stones were thrown at the visitors by Palestinians,” Rosenfeld said. “There were no injuries. Six Palestinians were arrested at the scene by police who were escorting” the Israelis. The week-long Passover holiday, which ends at sunset on Monday, is when Jews commemorate the Exodus of the biblical Israelites from captivity in Egypt. It is one of several Jewish festivals during which it is customary for the faithful to visit Jerusalem. The compound, in the walled Old City, houses the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosques, and is venerated by Jews as the site where King Herod’s temple stood before it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. It is one of the most sensitive sites in Jerusalem, and clashes frequently break out between Palestinians and Israeli security forces.